London : Trend Watch

I'll Take That To Go

BuzzEditor — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:22:00 GMT

Are Belgravia residents doing any cooking these days? With the excellent choices from prepared-food purveyors, one has to wonder. While Baker & Spice has been in the neighbourhood for several years, new options have recently sprung up. Last month, a new branch of Ottolenghi opened with a communal table and a tempting food display (13 Motcomb St., SW1; 020-7823 2707). Just around the corner is Zafferano Deli (adjacent to Zafferano), also with a communal table, as well as its own brand of pasta and sauces, plus eggplant Parmigiana, Italian meats and cheeses and a great wine selection (15 Lowndes St., SW1; 020-7235 5800). Zafferano manager Enzo Cassini even sells his family’s extra-virgin olive oil made with Taggiasca olives harvested by hand from 200-year-old trees. And, when Olivomare opened last year, it put its deli, Olivino, right next door. There, one can find much of the specially imported Sardinian produce used in the restaurant, as well as a solid selection of Sardinian wines and many of the restaurant dishes to take away (12 Lower Belgrave St., SW1; 020-7730 9042).

Belgravia residents aren’t the only lucky ones. The new Tom’s Place in Chelsea has fish ‘n’ chips to carry out as well as homemade ice cream served in little dixie cups with wooden spoons (1 Cale St., SW3; 020-7351 1806). As soon as they find some cool scooters, they'll begin a delivery service. Tom’s Kitchen is now catering for events and has a takeaway counter in Selfridge’s Food Hall (27 Cale St., SW3; 020-7349 0202). Over in Marylebone, the notoriously cramped La Fromagerie has just expanded next door with the addition of more cafe seating and a larger wine-and-produce selection (2-6 Moxon St., W1; 020-7935 0341).

– Susan Kessler

Where the Actors Are the Owners (Not Just the Waiters)

BuzzEditor — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:23:00 GMT

Have you been to a celebrity-owned restaurant?

Are they worth the hype? Share your thoughts on the Zagat Discussion boards!

With the writers' strike finally over and the Academy Awards just around the corner on 24th February, most of Hollywood is thinking about who will be taking home that little gold guy. But not everybody can win an Oscar, so financially prudent actors might find themselves pondering potential side businesses. And if they want a tried-and-true second gig, the food industry is very welcoming to thespians. We're talking about owning here, not waiting on tables or tending bar.

LA is arguably the capital of the celeb-backed restaurant. The scene-heavy Melrose Italian Dolce Enotca e Ristorante has backing from the likes of Ashton Kutcher; the same group also owns the newish Ketchup,which boasts Wilmer Valderrama and Tara Reid as backers. Then there's Cathy Moriarty's pizza mini-chain Mulberry St. Pizza. Over in Pasadena, Jennifer Lopez opened Madre's, a glamour Puerto Rican dining spot. And, don't forget about Eva Longoria Parker and Todd English's upcoming Beso. Even Steven Spielberg's mother has her own kosher dairy kitchen, Milky Way. Although Johnny Depp no longer owns the Viper Room, the House of Blues, with investors ranging from Dan Aykroyd to Aerosmith, is still going strong.

For Robert De Niro, winning two Oscars wasn't enough – he still wanted to become an über-restaurateur. In West Hollywood, he has Ago, a pricey Tuscan that recently opened a location in Las Vegas and is on its way to New York. He has Rubicon in San Francisco and Nobu, Nobu 57 and Tribeca Grill in New York. Paul Newman, also an Oscar winner, opened the Dressing Room, an organic New American that sits adjacent to wife Joanne Woodward’s beloved Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, CT. Oscar winner Timothy Hutton put some money into the Midtown pub P.J. Clarke's, which now has three locations. And Oscar-winning director (and actor) Quentin Tarantino was an early investor in Korean Barbecue Do Hwa in New York City.

Indeed, NYC has no shortage of celeb-backed ventures. Justin Timberlake (yes, he's an actor too) recently brought Memphis BBQ to the Upper East Side via Southern Hospitality. Chris Noth's nightspot in the Flatiron, the Cutting Room, offers a performance space for all types of acts. The first Planet Hollywood even landed in Gotham and although the chain has lost some of its swagger and some of its original backers (most notably the Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger) it still has Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone to stand behind the 18 locations around the world, plus a recently opened Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

While the majority of actor-backed restaurants are in the celeb-infested environs of New York and LA, they do pop up elsewhere. In 2006, Sandra Bullock teamed with chef Brenton Childs to open Bess in Austin. Don Johnson and Cheech Marin are both backers behind San Fransisco's French-Vietnamese Ana Mandara. And in Paris, Gérard Depardieu has two restaurants: the Classic French La Fontaine Gaillon and the raw bar L'Ecaille de la Fontaine.

Absinthe Wars

BuzzEditor — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 23:55:00 GMT

Ted Breaux serving his Lucid absinthe at Tales of the Cocktail.

photo: Carla Spartos

Seemingly everywhere you turn here at Tales of the Cocktail, someone’s pushing absinthe, the bitter, anise-flavored spirit distilled from wormwood made famous by Belle Époque artists and madmen. Within 24 hours of arriving in the Big Easy, the Buzz was invited to sample no less than three brands, including Lucid, La Fée and Marteau.

But isn't absinthe illegal in the U.S.? Apparently the law only prohibits absinthe that contains more than 10 mg per liter of thujone, the active ingredient in wormwood, and most "authentic" absinthe contains less than that amount.

And so this March, U.S. regulators approved Lucid, making it the first absinthe to be legally distributed on these shores in 95 years. It hit the shelves in New York last month, where it retails for $59.95 a bottle. It will soon be available in all 50 states, according to its creator, New Orleans–born chemist Ted Breaux.

La Fée absinthe tasting.

photo: Carla Spartos

Now others are trying to elbow their way into the market. Gwydion Stone, the pony-tailed founder of Seattle’s Wormwood Society, is hoping to release his Swiss-made absinthe, Marteau, in October. And the U.K.-based La Fée – poured at posh London hotels such as Claridge’s and Sanderson – is in New Orleans gauging the American audience.

It's enthusiastic, according to Breaux, who says the "whole country assaulted New York" in an attempt to get their hands on the initial shipments of Lucid.

Traditionally served diluted with water and tempered with sugar, absinthe is now popping up in cocktails in trendy bars. In NYC, Employees Only shakes up a Lucid mojito while Milk and Honey uses La Fée in its Sea Fizz cocktail. Breaux says he has received numerous inquiries from fine-dining restaurants too.

What about tales of green fairies and lopped-off earlobes? “Properly distilled, there is nothing harmful about absinthe,” says Breaux, who maintains that bad alcohol from unscrupulous distillers is to blame for the spirit’s 19th-century notoriety. As for Van Gogh, “He was drinking loads of other alcohol,” says a La Fée rep. “And smoking all kinds of weed.”

London : Trend Watch

I'll Take That To Go

– Susan Kessler

Where the Actors Are the Owners (Not Just the Waiters)

Have you been to a celebrity-owned restaurant?

Absinthe Wars

Ted Breaux serving his Lucid absinthe at Tales of the Cocktail.

photo: Carla Spartos

La Fée absinthe tasting.

photo: Carla Spartos

– Carla Spartos